in a closet in an emteam house on the outskirts of little rock. >> i love the judge, i tell you that. love that man. he is a good man. >> reporter: mccready locked in ape custody battle with her own mother who is zander legal guardian who mccready claims has been abusing the boy. her mom denies that. not clear if the mess came to a tidy end in arkansas. >> any case involving children in foster care in the state of arkansas they are closed proceedings, i guess my best response would be i have no comment. >> reporter: mccready suggested everything went her way. in a text message to hln she wrote, we won. zan stays. mccready climbed the country charts in the 90s then stumbled through a rough patch that landed her on the vh 1 show, celebrity rehab. in arkansas authorities took

zander into foster care. >> it is very hard to believe that a court after listening to all right evidence sheaf literally takes the child from florida is found hiding in a closet in arkansas some how the judge is going to say fine here you go. you now have custody. >> while the courts decide to who gets permanent custody of zander authorities in florida and arkansas could decide to arrest mccready and charge her with kidnapping her own son. scott goldberg, abc news, new york. >> no criminal charges have been filed. sounds like a bad episode of "cops." the boy is in the middle of it. >> she claims she won. we don't know what happened. they're a child case. they're kept under seal and wraps. i guess we'll be hearing more. >> i would hope so. see how much it plays out. hope the best thing happens for the sake of the little boy. >> little boy at issue here. >> exactly. >> nup to a television experiment that went bust. the discovery channel show" myth busters" fired a home made

cannon. the cannonball blasted through the cinder block wall, tore through the front dufrp the house shot through a bedroom and exited through a stucco wall. it wasn't over, the cannonball bounced across the street slammed into a minivan. unfortunately no one was hurt. >> heck of a cannonball. whoa. now to a major financial headline this morning as banking giant citigroup announces major layoffs. the company eliminating 4,500 jobs, 1.5% of its work force. the layoffs will take place over the next two quarters. and sef vance expenses will cost citigroup $400 million. citigroup's competitors are also slashing jobs. here is a story for all of you watching who work the night shift. rotating shift workers may have more health risks, related to their schedules than previously thought. harvard researchers say whippen who work nights and rotating schedule maze be prone to type two die be tetz and obesity. researchers looked at medical histories of nurse dating back to 1996.

the longer they work shifts, the bigger the risk. >> not good news for you or me. >> i know. >> powerful storm that blastd the southwest is zeroing in on the east. starting to day it is creating a big mess from tennessee to the northeast. with a heavy dose of snow and pouring rain on top of that. abc meteorologist ginger ze is tracking the storm. >> the blast of winter is making a slow march across the country. in the nation's southwest, swirling snow shut down the interstates. schools were closed. outside phoenix, snow dusted mountain tops. in missouri, icy roadways turned the morning rush into a treacherous trek. >> you just don't seep this very often. it is a legitimate snowstorm. >> reporter: in new mexico, a blast of record breaking chill was a stunner. albuquerque dropped into the single digits. almost 30 degrees below average. >> definitely below freezing i know that.

>> i neanother sweater or jacke. >> the wintry mix is heading east, could mean snow at higher elevations or rain, rain/snow mix, from mid-atlantic through nechlgt winter storm watches already in place. >> i think the biggest issue will be the drop in temperatures. a whiplash, 20 to 30 degrees colder than it has been. ginger zee, abc news, new york. >> 20 to 30? >> that is a bad whiplash. we have had such a mild end of november. december, 50s, 60s. great all changing today. some folks, new jersey, connecticut still trying to clean up from that, that, october 30th snowstorm. now they have this cuppioming. it is a mess. 'tis winter in the northeast. here we go. here is a look at the rest of the forecast around the country. in addition to the rain here in the northeast. the storm could dumb ps up to 7 inches of snow. showers, thunderstorms, meanwhile around tallahassee, jacksonville, atlanta.

ablight snow from billings to rapid city. >> 29, fargo. 36, boise. 41, seattle. dallas, 45. troilt detroit, 39 frmgts upper 40s in boston. upper 50s in baltimore. have you noticed we have had pretty good stuff from south america recently. the pole dancing championship. my favorite. the, the big christmas tree, the floating tree, that was cool. and now we have this. >> that's right. check this out. a special nativity scene from down in lima, peru, brightly colored. believe it or not, it is all chocolate. they used almost 180 pound of chocolate, three kinds. dark, milk, and white. >> look at that. wow. took 20 people including an engineer two months to create all that. looks good enough to eat. >> i've spent some time in lima this summer. ate a lot. came back with montazumba's revenge. >> thank you for tmi. how long did that last? >> seriously a month. >> you would be dead if you had

it for a month. >> i was sick for a month. >> wasn't a constant revenge for a month. >> i can't tell everybody about that. >> you brought it up. i got to ask. now i'm afraid to sit next to you. we'll be back with more "world news now" after this. good lord. ♪ ♪

to medical news and possible changes for one of the country's most popular birth control pills. >> the so-called magic pill known to treat ailments and preventing pregnancy. is it jeopardizing the health of the women taking it.

here is abc's chris cuomo. >> reporter: yaz pitched as a dream come true for women, birth control pill, aimed at easing pms. 24-year-old nurse carissa ubersox says this ad got her to switch to yaz. one night after a few months on the drug her legs started to ache. soon she was gasping for air. then her heart stopped. 4 minutes? no heartbeat? also known as dead? >> yes. >> reporter: massive blood clots traveled from her legs to her lungs. she slipped into a coma. when she woke up. >> right now can you see me? >> no. >> reporter: can you see anything? >> no. >> reporter: all birth control pills come with some risk. two to four women per 10,000 will suffer blood clots. but with yaz, several new

studies have put the risk two to three times hyper. >> the two bayer sponsored studies found no difference in risk while four independent studies found increased risks. >> reporter: this doctor authored a study involving a million women. she says she sent her findings to bayer but was surprise they'd didn't respond. the studies that found increased risk are not in the best interest of the company. >> reporter: this week the fda will hold hearings if yaz should have stronger warnings about blood clots. the fda warned that yaz was not effective for common pms and forced bayer to pull the pms ads. by then millions of women had already switched including clarissa. >> you don't have the future you thought you were going to have? >> no. >> reporter: you believe it all happened and started with a pill called yaz. >> yes.

>> reporter: bayer denies all wrongdoing. clarissa and other alleged victims are suing saying yaz has higher risks than other birth control pills and importantly they say they can show in their lawsuit that bayer knew about increased risks and tried to conceal the evidence. chris cuomo, abc news, new york. >> so brightening. your heart bleeds for the woman in the piece. >> so many people take the pills. >> unbelievable. look for a medical controversy, fda will begin deciding to day whether to end age restriction on those who can buy plan b emergency contraceptive pill without a prescription a nother big, political/medical debate. stay tuned for that as well. >> well, coming up saying myrrhy christmas with a fresh baked cookie. >> there is no better way. why a california man wants to give the holiday treat to some very special people like sunny and me, in fact. you are watching "world news now." >> yes.

>> all right. here we go. time for our boom, "favorite story of the day. you would think only ebeneezer s work on christmas, it does happen everywhere unclueding right here. >> that's right. one sacramento man wants to put an end to that. he came up with a plan to send a message to bosses on the naughty list. he calls it the cookie project. >> my name is john marcot. i am trying to participate in society instead of letting it pass me by. i know mate nit may not be a sa day to every person. it is a way of cheapening our society. there should be one or two days,

everyone, no matter how much, or little you make can have a day to go home with their family. we need police. we need firemen to be there. we need some one at a farm phar we don't need a gingerbread latte or grandeburrito and do without those things, to allow people spend time with their families on christmas. we decided we are going to bring back christmas spirit one bag of cookies at a type. we have a website, cookieprojectjorg. we are looking for volunteers, cookie recipes want the best cookies possible. looking for people to bake cookies. looking for people to put them in bag and help us deliver them on christmas. if you are going to pick one day to try to make the world a lit belter place. why not let it be christmas. >> i like this guy. >> yeah. >> cookies. >> you get a cookie. you get a cookie. >> that's what i am talking about. >> i get a cookie. >> did allison send these?

>> good cookies in new york. fire fighters working, police working. all of you working over the holidays we feel your pain. we are in this together. we will send you these two. cheers. [ female announcer ] among marie claire's top 25 beauty products

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cascade complete pacs fight tough greasy messes better than the other tablet. there's only one cascade. love it, or your money back. now, it is time for your morning papers. this one for me was hysterical, out of the orlando sentinel. apparently the orlando magic ceo bob vandeway resigned because he drunk dialed. >> who did he call? >> he called magic superstar dwight howard because he wanted to keep the big man in orlando. bottom line he was going to become this free agent. she is going to be, courted by a lot of other folks. apparently he had a few too many glasses of wine. >> and called, hey, man, stay on the team, man. stay on the team.

in orlando. >> everyone has done out for been subjected to the drunk dial. let's be honest. >> and drunk texting which is worse these days. don't drink and dial, folks. be careful. especially on an nba team. >> this is my favorite story, this man went into lancaster story, stop and go convenience store, 3:00 a.m. wasn't looking for beer, smokes, looking for $1,000 of male enhancement products, chaotic crypt night, 8 balls and bangkok chill. some have horny goat weed extract. the guy is in for some hard times. >> i'm not going there. >> you had to see that coming. that was too easy. >> finally in the trentonian, a new jersey mayor resigned after a male prostitute posted a picture of him. asleep in his calvin clinkleins.

don't let the male prostitute take a picture of you sleeping. >> jimmy kimmel, either this is a picture or calvin klein ad campaign going in a different direction. mayor of medford, new jersey, where my old high school is located. i picked the story to talk about the guy. republican, married, two kids. typical client. >> ha-ha. >> got busted again. another, sex scandal. can't believe it. enough scanle dscandals. cool news to report on morning papers this morning. celebratory news for our show. we did hit a milestone, no, that guy is not it. >> ha-ha! >> he celebrated a whole different way. we are celebrating -- 40,000 fans on facebook. we wanted to thank everyone out there, in support of the show. >> i am so thrilled to have been a part of it. so thrilled. >> you are here to the end of the year. we have a lot going on.

look at this. >>. ♪ in the ho

this morning on "world news now" -- wintry misery. the wet, windy, snowy and icy conditions that made a mess out of the southwest blows across the country. >> the storm caused power outages and travel headache as cross a vast area. now all that nastiness is threatening the northeast. it is wednesday, december 7th. good morning, i'm sunny hostin. >> and i'm rob nelson. snow mixed with rain could be causing a slushy mess across the heavily populated northeast over the next 24 hours. and the storm could hit the same areas in fact, still trying to recover from that nor'easter that made halloween look a lot

more like christmas. well if you didn't think it was winter you will know it is now. >> it's here. also this morning, alec baldwin's war of words on twitter after american airlines flight attendants threw him off a flight. he was playing a game on his cell phone and reap fused to turn it off. >> this is the dumbest story of the morning. shut off the game. and let the plane. what are they going to do? >> some people don't want to turn their cell phones off. it doesn't do anything to the plane. if your cell phone can take the plane down. none of us should be flying. >> i agree. aleck had a temper tantrum on the plane the i don't get it. let you be the judge in a few seconds. later this half-hour the tunes you listen to in your car can influence your driving habits. some music is linked to road rage. while other tunes can make you put the pedal to the metal. who doesn't like to jam out in their car? on a nice day. >> i can't wait to hear what you listen to, rob. >> i'll tell you, share that coming up. >> the wintry blast loosening

its grip on the southwest setting its sights on the northeast. >> here we go. the same storm that left parts of california, new mexico and texas covered in snow and ice is now on the move. until now, temperatures here in the northeast have been downright balmy, a great couple days here last two weeks. but now in for a rude, cold awakening. we get more on this from abc's diana alvear, good morning, diana. >> reporter: rob, sunny, good morning. winter may not have officially started but it sure feels like it has the especially for people in states like texas and washington state where some of the roads were as white as my sweater. a sprinkle of snow, coats cactuses in airs one of several states shivering from a blast of cold canadian air. in texas the first snow fefl covering everything in white. >> i just had to go for a walk it is so beautiful out here. >> reporter: temperatures plunged in new mexico. forcing the closure of interstate 40. snow shovels and other winter

supplies flew off the shelves. >> customers calling in, asking us to set aside heaters and, set aside ice melts. >> reporter: drivers had to dodge black ice in washington state. some without success. deeper in the cascades, the danger was getting stuck. that's where the dirty 13 come in. >> these guys came up with the jeeps which was a blessing. and, pulled us out. >> reporter: a group of four-wheel drive jeep owners, 13 strong, volunteer their time rescuing stranded drivers. >> everybody here likes to help people. >> and the wind continues to blow in california. days after the savage santa anas ravaged the los angeles area, several surrounding communities are still without power. crews have been working to turn downed trees into firewood. and collect tons of debris. and, there is no need to be jealous of us west coasters. this system is headed east to

put the brr in your december. rob, sunny. >> she says it with a smile too. thank you, diana. take a look at the rest of your weather. you can expect snow around memphis, charleston, west virginia, pittsburgh, buffalo, northern new england. heavy rain today, flooding from boston down to d.c. thunderstorms, north florida, atlanta. snow showers from billings to rapid city. 36, boise. 56, sacramento. 61, phoenix. 30s in the nation's midsection. 45 in dallas. 55, new york. miami, 82. >> jealous of miami for many years. enjoy the 82 degrees. newt gingrich is finding out what it is like to be at the top of the republican heap. rival ron paul released a blistering new attack ad that will start rung in iowa where critical caucuses are less than a month away. suddenly mitt romney is going to be a lot more visible. he agreed to go on fox news

sunday, this is actually his first national sunday talk show in nearly two years. an amazing stat for a guy running for president. we'll see how he does. president obama started sketching out the team of his re-election campaign during a visit to the nation's heartland. at a stop in kansas mr. obama insisted the u.s. must reclaim its standing as a country in which everybody can prosper if provide aid fair shot and fair share. the president called this a make or break moment for the middle-class. the new owners of the west virginia mine where 29 men died have now agreed to pay a record fine in connection with the deaths. family members of the victims say that is simply not enough. abc's david kerley reports. >> reporter: new pictures inside the mine where investigators say massy energy put miners lives at risk every time they sent them under ground. create aid culture of fear and intimidation to hide their reckless practices. families who grieve for their loved ones in public will get

$1.5 million from the record criminal settlement and stand to get much more in civil restitution. the settlement does not protect former executives including don blankenship from criminal charges. the day after the blast he defended his regard to diane sawyer. >> 2006, there was a tragedy, a disaster. now another one of the what are you going to do that is a quantum difference from what you have done before? >> when you employ, 6,000, 7,000, people you do your best to protect all of them. that's what massy does. where is he today? blankenship is retired. one month after he was granted a $12 million golden parachute he filed papers listing himself as president of mccoy coal group. is he back in business? >> i would be stunned to find out any state issued him a permit to run a coal mine. >> reporter: family members are calling for criminal charges. one sake the death of the brother in the mine was an act of murder.

david kerley, abc news, washington. >> that agreement actually does prevent criminal charges from executives, of the company, you are happy the families get the money. no check is ever going to bring back the lives lost. >> no, i think they want people to be found responsible for their actions. i can understand why they feel this way. >> of course they do. scary to think that guy may be operating another business considering his track record. we'll keep an eye on that as the well. head of the faa is resigning after a weekend drunk driving arrest. randy babbitt driving on the wrong side of the road when he was pulled over saturday night in suburban washington. now babbitt's boss, transportation secretary ray la hood has aggressively campaigned against drunken, distracted driving. alec baldwin getting the blame for a dispute on board a plane. the 30 rock actor kicked off an american airlines flight at lax for not turning off his cell phone because he was playing a game. flight was bound for new york. lucy yang of wcht abc reports.

>> reporter: if alec baldwin thought he was going to enjoy a smooth ride cross-country he found turbulence before the plane took off. turns out baldwin was kicked off his flight for playing on his cell phone. according to his own tweet. flight attendant on american reamed me out for playing words with friend while we sat at the gate not moving. hash tag no wonder america air is bankrupt. according to american airlines tweet, our flight attendants were following federal safety procedures on electron uk devices when aircraft door is closed. baldwin's original flight landed sitting in first-class ringside view, oscar de la hoya. >> i actually felt alec baldwin was turning off his devices. and he just got a little angry. >> other passengers pretty upset with baldwin's behavior which delayed everyone by an hour. >> he was on his phone. didn't want to get off the phone. then snuck into the bathroom.

became irate. they had to remove him from the flight. >> words with friends, a scrabble phone game had this twitter response. let aleck play. baldwin trying to gint the last dig. there is always unite the. last flight with american where retired catholic school gym teachers from the 1950s job find jobs as flight attendants. >> very rude. caused to us be delayed. not very considerate. not a very unselfish man. >> reporter: is this more bad boy behavior from yet another celebrity? passengers we spoke with were pretty much in agreement about blaming baldwin. they told me everyone else turned off their cell phones. baldwin meanwhile was able to book another flight. lucy yang, abc news, new york. >> moron. are you kidding me? i would admit to addictiveness of word with friend. addicted to it. aleck addicted tight. everyone has to play by the rules. you are nothing special.

turn off the thing. let flight go on as planned. out of consideration for other pass jenner passengers. one hour delay going from l.a. to new york. you know i get annoyed having to turn off my cell phone. ipad. >> everyone knows the rule. he slammed the bathroom door. >> not going to talk the plane down that if weren't moving. just a door was closed. >> it's called a grip. aleck, get one. that's all i'm saying. embarrassing. get a grip. >> i understand. i understand. >> unbelievable. check out all the polls these days, you will see evidence that americans believe things simply aren't working in the u.s. congress. awe they seem to put the dysfunction aside at least for a while last night for annual lighting of the capitol hill christmas tree. the 65-foot white fir shining with 10,000 lights. >> we knew it couldn't be true, cue the disfunction. there it goats.

the lights for 12 minutes. the outage caused by a sir skit problem on a damp, dreary night. republicans blaming the democrats. democrats are blaming the republicans. the tree needs a bailout package. >> so embarrassing. 12 minutes. >> 12 minutes. this government. got to love democracy. we'll be back with more "world news now" after this. ♪ the christmas tree at the christmas party hop ♪ let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement nsurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to " 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp...

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s uh-uh ♪ i'm like a bird i want to fly away ♪ ♪ i don't know where my soul is ♪ >> nellie fratada. call us, let us know what is up. >> you may recall a mystery of mother nature when thousands of black birds were found dead in arkansas. >> a weird story.

never discovered what caused all the bird to die. but now to many people's delight they're back. katv's matt johnson is back and reports. >> reporter: even after 16 years in beebe, charles moore can't contain his excitement about these world famous black birds. >> i think it is an awesome sight. watch them in the morning, 6:15, set your watch by them. >> reporter: thousands and thousands head east every morning. this is what they look like before sun set. they come back to roost in moore's backyard. >> they go through some ritual or routine who will occupy the roost when. they will populate the tops of these trees as you will see. and you know just by the tens of thousands. >> reporter: beebe is known as the blackbird capital of the world after more than 5,000 dead bird fell on city new year's day. >> it looked look a war zen out here. >> reporter: now 5,000 seems like a fraction of what may be a

growing population. >> there are a lot more bird houcht do you explain that, i don't know. >> reporter: a game and fish person says it is typical for birds to roost in the winter but no way to keep up with how many there are. as for a repeat of the so-called bird-pocalyps echt, it is unlikely. and that is good for moore who is a friend of the birds. >> if 10,000 birds want to go after me. i probably wouldn't have a chance. so i am glad they're friendly birds. >> well, look at that. actually they think violent weather could be the reasons some of the birds died a year ago. >> that freaked me out. i don't get flustered by that much. >> you like the birds. >> you know, freaked me out. bird falling from the sky. i never believe in the end of the world thing. that one of the. >> a little weird. >> those folks in beebe, enjoy cleaning off your wind shields. the bird are back. >> the road tunes linked to road rage. >> yes hour, music influences

your driving habits. the surprises researchers uncovered. next.

♪ born to be wild >> if you were behind the wheel listening to that song there, do you thing it would make you a wild driver. a british survey says it might. >> some songs may make us more peaceful drivers while others make us more aggressive, the bbcs graham satchel takes that survey for a test drive. ♪ >> reporter: does the music you listen to in your car change the way you drive sniff you listen to classical music are you less likely to have an accident than some one that listens to --

♪ love in a hopeless place >> reporter: pop. a survey by 2,000 drivers of the polling company populous, suggests what we are listening to in our car does influence driving behavior. ♪ yeah >> reporter: rock fans for example are more likely to experience road rage. 67% of rock fans admit to swearing or gesturing at other drivers. 31% have been involved in a minor accident. ♪ classical music listeners on the other hand are least luke low to speed, to tailgate and to lose their cool with other drivers. 42% of motorists listening to classical music said they found driving relaxing. i know what you are thinking -- this is all too obvious.

of course if you are listening to mozart, the music itself is calming and you are probably an older more experienced driver. and what about jazz? nice. people who listen to jazz are the most likely to get speeding fines. >> potentially people are listening in a more analytic way, it's a complex, involved sound. perhaps that's more distracting that can take your attention away from monitoring the speed. with pop music, nicely simple. repetitive. a lot of peep know the lyrics. a less of a drain on your concentration. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: if you want a safe drive home this christmas, and you believe the experts -- forget the head banging. try a bit of mozart instead. ♪ graham satchel, bbc news.

>> no mozart the i need rocking music. >> top 40. little eminem, dave matthews cruising music. something good. >> no speeding. that will work. >> uh-huh. see that's speeding music though.

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>> "world news now" never in the top ten. i just don't get it. what's going on? >> what's going on? >> come on, folks. >> finally, a police officer outside memphis, tennessee, is retiring and looking forward to his remaining years chasing his tail and sleeping in the sun. >> you may have guessed from the last line the police officer is yes, a dog. wkrn's, aaron holt, introduces us to a canine pup.

>> reporter: cash is fluent in four languages, has a titanium tooth just as comfortable hanging out or hunting for drugs or taking down suspects. cash came a long way from the czech republic to laverne to work with his hand. >> kids love him. >> reporter: suspects definitely don't love him. >> people are intimidated just by the dog's presence. this guy made a ton of arrests by laying in the back of the car or barking at the suspects. >> reporter: his bark is probably not worse than his bite. and that's what may have helped cash earn a unique distinction. >> we have 100% compliance in terms of when cash made contact with the suspect the suspect did not try to run off. >> reporter: so cash has never once had to bite a suspect. is the for him not to be there it feels different. >> reporter: after 8 and a half

years with lalaverne police, ka is moving on to green pastures. >> in dog years he has been here a long, long time. he has had a colorful career. >> reporter: tracking drugs, chasing suspects and riding in the back of a car has taken its toll on kash, almost ten years old. although he will be retired kash will be welcomed back with open arms and a drink. >> reporter: 47 dog years he spent on the force. >> he deserves retiren't. >> a long career. he earned it. >> i like the tooth. digging the tooth. you need it. you need a kash. >> look at the size of that. you kidding me? no. >> you need a kash. >> kash. that dog would eat up my new york city apartment. that dog is massive. >> i will lend you one of my dogs so you can get the feel of it. >> good luck with that.

ha-ha. that's the news for this

this morning on "world news now" -- faa fallout. the agency's chief is forced to resign after a drunk driving arrest. >> it comes as the faa is in the middle of critical safety changes. what does it mean for holiday travel? it's wednesday, december 7th. good morning, everybody. i'm rob nelson. >> i'm sunny hostin. it certainly doesn't look good for the faa when the agency chief was busted for driving on the wrong side of the road and had a blood alcohol limit above the legal limit. you will see why randy babbitt's arrest is the latest in the string of embarrassments for the faa. >> it has been a rough year for that agency.

>> my goodness! >> for that agency. wow. this morning, president obama establishes his re-election campaign platform during a visit to a small town in kansas. he is attempting to reach out to the middle-class. while republicans say president obama is simply engaging in class warfare. >> later this half-hour, if your neighbor set up a huge christmas light display, attracting crowds of onlookers would you be happy about it? or is it a nuisance? it's quite a topping of discussion on our facebook page. >> this time of year, for a few weeks, people get so uptight. 'tis the season. relax. some folks getting in an uproar. about the christmas lights. we'll get to that in just a second. first a major embarrassment. for the nation's top aviation official. >> randy babbitt was pulled over for driving drunk, his boss, transportation secretary ray lahood, found out from a press release. now babbitt is out of a job. here's abc's pierre thomas. >> reporter: randy babbitt resigned. pretty much because the facts dictated he had to go.

faa chief was arrested saturday not just because he was driving under the influence. the police report stated he was driving on the wrong side of a busy virginia highway at 10:30 saturday night. it's the holiday season, that time of night, that road is usually really crowded. the faa is under the transportation department which made fighting drunk driving a priority. his arrest comes at a difficult moment for the faa which oversees the nation's busy airports. this year air traffic controllers have been caught literally sleeping on the job. apparently babbitt did not notify his bosses until monday afternoon nearly two days after the incident. pierre thomas, abc news, washington. >> such a mess. >> it really is. i think the thing that hurt him, the fact that, your boss find out about it through a news release as opposed to getting a call from you. directly saying -- hey, i had a mishap. >> his boss has been critical of drunk drivers or drivers using cell phones or texting behind the wheel.

imagine, this arrest came as a huge complete bombshell for him. >> it's scary. he seemed like everybody else. people make mistakes. in that kind of job, no, no. >> today the, today is the day rather that the former illinois governor, rod blagojevich will find out how long he is going to spend in prison. blagojevich will address the judge sentencing him today following his conviction on 18 counts of political corruption. as his sentencing hearing began that judge signaled he is prepared to impose a stiff sentence which could be up to 20 years. political news this morning -- newt gingrich is facing a firestorm of criticism now that he is the top republican presidential candidate. rival ron paul is running a scathing ad in iowa that portrays gingrich as the ultimate washington insider. mitt romney on the attack as well, telling voters they've want a guy that worked in washington the past 40 years, newt is the guy. newt countered that, saying he has run for office several times before. how do you define career poll snigs everyone has their baggage.

it's newt's turn. >> i don't like the attack ads. >> they're effective though. >> i know. offensive to me. they offend my sensibility. >> politics is dirty. >> president obama sounded familiar themes during his cat paulg -- campaign-style visit tight rural kansas yesterday. >> extending the tax cut and wealthier taxpayers to carry a bigger tax burden. abc's scott goldberg has more on this. good morning to you, scott. >> good morning, rob, sunny. president obama was in kansas but gave a speech that would have played well at an occupy wall street rally. he channeled the past to make a point about the present day gap between the rich and the poor. president obama went to kansas to continue what he said is not just another political debate. >> this is the defining issue of our time. this is a make or break moment for the middle-class. >> reporter: he chose this small town near kansas city because 101 years ago a former president

spoke about income inequality in the same place. >> teddy roosevelt came here, and heap laid out his vision for what he called a new nationalism. president obama described roosevelt as the republican son of a wealthy family who turned into a progressive and argued it is government's role to regulate wealth and protect workers. >> for this roosevelt was called a radical. he was called a socialist. even a communist. >> reporter: this president has heard the same thing in endless battles with republicans over tax breaks for the middle-class which he wants to offset with tax hikes on millionaires. >> democrats know as well as we do this is a terrible idea. >> i think republicans will argue this is class warfare. what the president will argue is in fact the class warfare is a policy by the republicans. >> reporter: in kansas, president obama took sharp aim at his opponents who he said have been on the wrong side of history now for a century. >> their philosophy is simple. we are better off when everybody

is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. i am here to say they are wrong. >> reporter: an argument, the president hopes will bring voters back to his side. an argument, republican national committee calls desperate after three years of unemployment and debt. rob, sunny. >> this has been the undercurrent of so much of the political debate. how much should you tax the rich to help solve the nation's debt crisis and tax crisis? >> the robin hood equation. >> seeing it again. my thing, we gave big tax cuts to the rich under the bush administration. still got into, into, a deep recession. and, a deep deficit. reagan, style politics, trickle down, economics, no study proves that ever really works. so how does it hurt the job creators when you want to tax millionaires and billionaires. just saying. >> you are hearing so much more. >> not over. >> looking for a compromise we heard that as well. >> that's right. >> solemn ceremonies planned to mark the 70th anniversary of the

japanese attack on pearl harbor. nearly 2,400 americans lost their lives in the devastating sneak attack before 8:00 a.m. hawaii time. this will be the last time the occasion is marked by survivors association. because those who lived through it are aging and in declining health. officials say the drone that crashed inside iran over the weekend was one of a fleet of stealth aircraft that have spied on iran for years. surveillance craft based in an american air base in afghanistan, experts still aren't sure how much secret information iranians might be able to glean from that drone. >> now to the deadly unrest in syria, which according to the u.n. has killed more than 4,000 people since march. the obama administration is moving to expand contacts with opponents of the ruling regime as violence there grows more deadly. abc's martha raddatz reports. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: it started in darkness. a terrifying volley of gunfire that began one of the bloodiest 24 hours since this revolution

began to force out syria's dictator bashir al assad. with weapons and tanks thundering by, people were running for their lives. children looking for cover. some too late. thousands of miles away, secretary of state hillary clinton met with syrian opposition groups. >> they need to be assured that syria will be better off under a regime of tolerance rather than on the whims of, of a dictator. >> reporter: clinton is also sending ambassador robert ford back to syria after pulling him out for his own safety. clinton says he will be a witness to assad's brutality as syria slides closer into an all-out civil war. martha raddatz, abc news. our reporting from syria does not end here.

look for barbara walters' exclusive interview with syria's president, bashir al-assad later today. watch on "good morning america," word news and "nightline" >> another big barbara walters exclusive. should be fascinating. the fierce weather in the u.s. much of new mexico is buried under snow and ice this morning. after getting bartered by an early winter storm. residents in roswell struggled out of their drive ways and navigate some very slippery roads. temperatures plunged. kids couldn't wait to make the best out of it. but it was no fun for drivers in springfield, missouri. a school bus among dozens of vehicles involved in crashes on some icy highways there. police responded to dozens of fender-benders. several cars slid off the road. no reports of any serious injuries. old man winter is up and running around isn't he? >> yes. he is here. here is your wednesday weather. messy along the east coast. with drenching downpours, flooding, boston, new york, philly, d.c. up to 7 inches of snow inland, from maine to pittsburgh and tennessee.

showers, thunderstorms, tallahassee, jacksonville, atlanta. snow showers in montana. >> 40s in the pacific northwest. >> snowy 32, billings. 41 in albuquerque. minneapolis up to 30. windy city up to 34. 50s, new york to new orleans. well any dog owner, myself, will tell you their worst fear is that their beloved pooch may somehow run off or get lost. wait until you hear this. >> meet petunia the pit bull found near sacramento california, the bizarre thing, petunia was lost eight years ago by her owners in virginia. >> they were put back in touch after someone finally scanned her for a microchip. her owners were found and travel arrangements are being made to send petunia back east. >> happy ending. >> around the holidays too. >> good. good for the owners. we'll be back with more "world news now" after this. ♪ touch, hey hey ♪ reunited and it feels so good ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm on the right track baby i was born this way ♪ >> welcome back, everybody. little monsters working in the west one got quite the sight tuesday. lady gaga herself was in the house. >> that's right. one of the world's most popular singers wasn't there to entertain sunny was there to talk about a cause dear to her heart, bullying. abc's linsey davis reports. >> reporter: at 13 years old and alone at 4:00 a.m., jonah mowry went public with his darkest thoughts. more than 5 million people have watched his video where he uses

notecards to express the anguihf suicide. since he posted it support has poured in from everyday people and celebrities alike. pop star lady gaga tweeted thank you jonah for being brave enough to share your story. lady gaga took that message to the white house meeting with top staff to the president to press the importance of this crisis and seek help for the nation's kids. gaga began her fight after 14-year-old jamie gave up his. >> lady gaga. >> reporter: one of his last messages offered thanks to lady gaga. >> she lets me know that i was born this way. >> reporter: when he later took his life after being bullied for being gay, lady gaga tweeted the past days i have spent reflecting, crying and yelling. now she is giving voice to bullied children through her charity. >> it is an organization center ed around anti-bullying. my mom and i are really passionate about that. this is our passion project. >> reporter: beyond adult's efforts, bullied teens are also supporting one another online.

>> why so many kids are using the internet as their personal diary. >> pour your heart out on the internet is a way to sometimes ask for the support you need and as jonah found to get the support that you need. >> reporter: now these children have a star on their side bringing their stories all the way to the white house. linsey davis, abc news, new york. >> this is such an important issue. it is an important issue for me. i have done a bullying special with cnn. i just, i think it is remarkable that so many kids are going through this every single day. sometimes hidden from their families. >> young teens, to the point considering suicide at that age. >> committing suicide. because their peers are bullying them. it has to stop. it -- they're kids. they're our nation's future. >> hopefully gaga changing the culture and policy in schools.

to help kids stay safer in schools. celebrities use their fame to get richer next book, next movie. she is doing really good important work with it. hats off to her. >> kudos. >> hope it makes a difference. >> he is big, hairy and is going to be on "glee." we may be seeing more of lindsay lohan, we mean a lot more. details of that coming of in "the skinny."

♪ skinny ♪ skinny ♪ so skinny lots of good stuff in "the skinny" today. some good dirt. >> first thing -- beyonce is being sued. a video game maker suing her for $100 million. apparently manhattan supreme court justice today ruled that the suit can go forward. her attorneys were trying to get rid of the suit. it is about a dance video game she was supposed to be a part of. she pulled -- the makers of the video game saying she pulled because she wanted more money. calling it an extortion demand. she's they didn't secure the financing of the project by the deadline.

that's why i pulled out. and she is not going to dance away from the lawsuit. >> she breached the contact. they want $100 million. >> i would imagine a lawsuit by a video game with beyonce dancing in it would be worth a lot of money. >> i would buy it. love to play it. >> i would too. >> lindsay lohan back in the news. apparently, we talked about this a few weeks ago. she is posing in "playboy" close to $1 million paycheck. it will be out on newsstands some times this month, the january/february issue. she is going to do one interview while on the stand and picked the ellen degeneres show. apparently as the place, they're going to show some of the spread on "ellen" and they'll block out the naughty bits and all that stuff. there we go. lindsay, see how she is doing. the show will air next week. "playboy" on newsstands in a matter of days. we'll see what ms. lohan is working with. uh-huh. >> this is my fav -- out of "the

new york daily news" -- chewbacca on "glee" and will make an appearance on the christmas episode. i wish they had r2d2. >> are you a big "star wars" fan? >> the force is with me at all times. >> chewbacca. everyone loves chewbacca. "glee" always gets the big stars. >> he is not going to sing. >> really? a tragedy. the pet lovers out there will love this one. a movie out "the artist" getting a lot of oscar buzz, people are loving this movie, kind of in a black and white, french movie. any way the 9-year-old terrier in the movie, uggie. they're saying, highly trained dog who was exceptionally good in this movie. now there is a facebook job to get him nominated for an oscar. joining the ranks of leo dicaprio and george clooney up for oscars this year. and a facebook campaign by move vefline demanding the dog be given an award for acting chops. >> i don't think animals can win oscars.

>> that's how much people say this dog that they good in the movie. >> i want to see the movie just for the dog. >> just for the dog? >> uh-huh. we'll see. we'll see. more news coming up next. don't go far. ♪ see. more news coming up next. don't go far. tadaaa! welcome to haircolor heaven. aa-ah-ahhh! courtesy of new nice 'n easy colorblend foam. permanent, dimensional color, now in a delightful foam! just three shakes, foam it, love it! simply saturate hair root to tip, front to back. with tones and highlights. it's foamtastic! home haircolor, make room for foam haircolor! new nice 'n easy colorblend foam. your right color.

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call this toll-free number now. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> finally, households around the country are getting into the holiday spirit. for many that means putting up the decorative lights. >> of course, one house in boca raton, florida is bringing out the christmas cheer in its neighborhood as well as a few grinches. here is wpvf's ted white.

>> reporter: richard newman has done it again. >> i love designing things. >> reporter: he transformed the outside of his boca raton home into a holiday light snow. >> 120 different channels. it is programmed at 20-second increments with music. everything is all coordinated, the bells, the snow machine, it's all done on a computer. >> reporter: the huge display attracts plenty of onlookers but it appears several of newman's neighbors have a problem with the setup. >> put up barricade on their property to hinder people from parking. the neighbor over there put the barricades also. none of this should really impact her. it is all on public swale. >> reporter: there were no big crowds on this night. >> i think it's lovely. >> reporter: just a few dozen people of all ages, enjoying the sights and sounds and moving on. >> i don't think there is anything wrong, i think it is very nice. >> reporter: newman looks forward to christmas eve, he plans to have santa claus, handing out candy canes and several choruses are planning to

sing carols. one more thing -- to the grinches out there? >> get a life. ha-ha. >> this is our facebook question of the day. chime in. if your neighbor did something like that would you love it or hate it? let us know. folks are chiming in. >> i like it. but if you are living right next door to the flickering and music. have you ever hung up lights? >> in my younger days. but i mean. you know? >> there you go. >> see. that's like clark griswald, national lampoon's "christmas vacation." seconds away from tumbling off the roof the i prop mise you. i prop is you. >> i like the lights. some people get a little carried away. a short period of time. >> this guy, almost got in trouble during halloween had dancers doing michael jackson's "thriller. he goes over the top. it is a few weeks. don't you love somebody that loves the holidays that much. it's nice. come on. >> it's nice. >> grinches. >> grinches out there right. more abc news right after the break. griffinches out there right.

more abc news right after the break.